Wednesday July 18, 2012
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/7/18/focus/11681685&sec=focus
I FEEL it is not a good idea to allow students to bring handphones, tablets, laptops and similar electronic gadgets to school from next year.
As a former student, a soon-to-be teacher and a concerned citizen, this feels like the Government is legalising what the students have been doing illegally all this while.
Let’s look at a normal classroom today, where we have about 35 to 40 students per class. If each student were to bring a gadget to the classroom, then, how is the teacher going to conduct the class?
Is there really a need for laptops and tablets in the class when we are still conventional in our education system, depending entirely on textbooks and revision books?
What happens to computer rooms and the large amount of money used to buy computers? Will they be white elephants in the computer rooms then?
This will also cause discipline problems in school. For one, students will be busy texting and going online when there is assembly, or when classes are going on.
If the gadget is taken away, they will argue that it is legal for them to bring them to school and therefore use it.
Besides, there will be more problems with students busy taking pictures and uploading every single thing on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, which will, in the long run, be a problem for the students and the schools.
Not every student can own gadgets like iPads and tablets. Those who can’t will be left out and some may resort to stealing.
There are many other problems and issues to be considered before students can bring such gadgets to school.
As for schools, there are many other things that need more attention, compared to allowing students to bring gadgets to school.
K LATHA BK
Serdang, Selangor
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